OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES WITH FAITH

FRIDAY, TWENTY FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Hag 1:15-2:9; Ps 43:1-4; Lk 9:18-22

God’s Ability and Man’s Disability

Our ignorance of God is usually the cause of our sin, which is always disobedience to the will of God. We often attempt to understand God using our own limited measures and standards, thereby falling into the trap of doubt that the evil one sets for us. We are raised in the community of unclean people with unclean lips, as the prophet Isaiah avowed when he encountered the holiness of God. With the psalmist, we pray: “Defend me, O God, and plead my cause against a godless nation. From deceitful and cunning men rescue me, O God.” Hence, we are used to people not matching their words with actions or deeds. The experience of men as flawed makes it difficult for us to exercise faith in the word of God, for we think of God and his word as we think of men and their w
ords. We often attribute the weaknesses of men to God because he presents or communicates to us in our forms and languages. The demons understand our nature to an extent, and the way we are nurtured in sin and familiar with human lies and weaknesses. So, they consistently attempt to cast doubts in our minds on the word of God. Our battles against the forces of evil every day are structured around this inherent weakness of our fallen nature. Thus, the first gifts we receive from God at our conversion are the gifts of faith, hope, and charity. Our faith in God is most fundamental for our spiritual life and journey. It is impossible to please God without faith. Faith gives us direct access to God, helping us to know God through his words; it gives us the right attitude and mindset to relate with God.

As ordinary people in our everyday lives, it is natural to encounter difficulties or challenges and be frightened and rattled. We must not remain at the level of ordinary people of everyday life; the challenges invite us to enter our faith mode and review the challenges before us with faith in God’s word. When we do, we see and evaluate the challenges and problems as children of God, with whom he lives and works to rebuild his spiritual temples that are in ruins. When we do, we come to understand that these humanly insurmountable problems are permitted or placed on our path to bring us to rebuild our temple of prayer and sacrifices within. The Jewish high commissioner and the elders who returned to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem faced humanly insurmountable problems and were weakened at the sight of the ruins of Jerusalem. Yahweh, therefore, sent his word through the prophet Haggai. “Who is there left among you that saw this Temple in its former glory? And how does it look to you now? Does it seem nothing to you? But take courage now, Zerubbabel—it is the Lord who speaks. Courage, High Priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak! Courage, all you people of the country!—it is the Lord who speaks. To work! I am with you—it is the Lord of Hosts who speaks—and my spirit remains among you.” The Lord promised them to bring every needed resource for the rebuilding of the Temple from all over the nations. Most importantly, he promised them his Holy Spirit.

The same applies to the rebuilding of the temple of God within every one of us. The temple in each of us is far more important and costly than a thousand physical temples; for these are made by human hands, but the temple within us is made by God himself. So, God would employ every needed resource for our rebuilding into his holy temples. “A little while now, and I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations and the treasures of all nations shall flow in, and I will fill this Temple with glory, says the Lord of Hosts.” We see the importance of rebuilding the temple within us in the appearance of the Eternal Word of God as man among us. Our Lord, therefore, put the question of his identity to the apostles to ensure they understood the importance of the work to be done. “Who do the crowds say I am? And they answered, ‘John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ It was Peter who spoke up. ‘The Christ of God’ he said. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.” The Eternal Father revealed the presence of the Eternal Word among us to Peter through his faith. He does the same to us when we believe and confess his word. We must always bear in mind that the obstacles or difficulties of life are intended to make us enter our faith mode and see the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, present and working with us to rebuild our temple. The ruin within is unimaginable to man, but with God, everything is possible. “Hope in God; I will praise him still, my saviour and my God.”

Let us pray: O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbour, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.